Heiress in Red Silk, Hunter, Madeline [good beach reads TXT] 📗

“Just as well you began this liaison, then.”

“How so?”

“You need to know how that part of it will be, seems to me. Can you imagine marrying like this, only to discover the fellow didn’t know what he was about in the marriage bed?” Mrs. Ingram placed a hand on Rosamund’s arm and leaned in. “He does know what he is about, I trust?”

Rosamund felt her face getting hot. “I would say so.”

“I’m relieved to hear it. Now, let’s see what is in that trunk you brought back with you.”

* * *

The morning after his return to London, Kevin made it a point to have breakfast at the same time as his father. He suffered a conversation that centered on how his father had managed to break the swan automaton and needed Kevin to fix it immediately. He in turn told his father about which English lords he had seen walking in the Tuileries, and what little he had learned about current French politics.

Having done his filial duty for what he hoped would be a fortnight, he stood. “I have to go and make some arrangements with the bank. It is good to see you are doing well.” He turned to stride off, then paused. “Oh, I probably should tell you that I am going to marry Miss Jameson.”

He left without looking back, claimed his horse, and rode to the City to arrange matters regarding Forestier’s money.

On his way back from the bank he stopped off at Angelo’s to fence. Refreshed by the physical activity, he finally returned to the house in early afternoon. He went in to spend the afternoon planning the next stage of the enterprise.

To his surprise, the servant at the door made a faint, pointing gesture. “They want you in the library, sir.”

They?

He opened the library doors and faced a phalanx of family members. His father sat muttering. Aunt Agnes posed like a queen. Aunt Dolores drank tea. Nicholas looked bored.

“There you are. Finally,” Aunt Agnes intoned. “Do come in.”

He stayed in the doorway. “How good of you and Aunt Dolores to call on Father. It has been some time. I would love to visit, but I am very busy, and—”

“I said come in.” Agnes’s ample bosom swelled. An imperious glint entered her eyes.

“You’d better join us,” Nicholas said. “It won’t do to put this off.”

Kevin entered and found a chair on the outer perimeter, next to his father. His father harrumphed and glared at him.

Kevin glared back. “Did you summon them? If so, do not expect that stupid swan to be fixed for a very, very long time.”

“Of course I sent for them. You can’t throw out such an outrageous revelation and march off, as if it is of no account. The family must be consulted. In the least, Hollinburgh must be.”

Kevin caught Nicholas’s eye. Nicholas returned an apologetic look.

“I don’t see why anyone needs to be consulted. I thought it was generous of me to inform you. Clearly that was a mistake. I won’t let sentiment rule me again.”

“Oh, tosh,” Aunt Dolores said. “We only need to know one thing. Are you engaged to this woman already?”

Four pair of eyes bored into him, too curious. For the love of—

“Not yet.”

“Thank heavens.” Aunt Agnes all but swooned with relief. “All is not lost, then.”

“I expect we will be engaged by week’s end, however.”

“No, you will not be. It is out of the question. I understand that she is pretty enough, but—”

“She is more than pretty enough, Aunt Agnes,” Nicholas said. “Give the devil her due. She is stunningly beautiful.”

“You are not helping, Hollinburgh.” Agnes scolded.

“What the hell do you mean, ‘give the devil her due’?” Kevin snapped.

Nicholas leaned back, out of the onslaught. “It is just a phrase. I didn’t mean she is a devil in the literal sense. I—”

“I think she is,” Dolores said. “She has bewitched you. Ensnared you. Used her wiles to make you besotted. I knew the first time I saw her that she was not to be trusted and would lead you to ruin, and she is well on the way to doing so.” She twisted her hands together. “If only my brother had given some thought to his will and not been so capricious. Now look what he has done.”

“Let us calm down,” Agnes said, although her chest heaved in a manner to suggest she was not calm at all. “Kevin, your déclassé interests in mechanics and whatnot are one thing. Your ridiculous preoccupation with this invention of yours, your befriending men of industry—your reputation, and the family’s, can survive all that. However, if you marry the daughter of a tenant farmer—” On saying the words she faltered, looked to the ceiling, and fanned herself.

“Are you going to faint?” Nicholas asked, concerned.

“She’s not going to faint,” Kevin said. “She never does. She only threatens to, for effect.”

Agnes recovered at once. She speared him with a malicious glare. “You know nothing about her. Other than that she is pretty enough, and now wealthy enough.”

“The two most important qualities my father taught me to look for in a wife. Right, Father?”

His father almost sent a nod in his direction, but Agnes’s hand landed in a firm slap on the cushion of the divan where she sat.

“I assumed he would know that good blood was necessary too. Who needs to explain that?” His father asked the question of Agnes beseechingly.

“You have been neglectful in raising him,” Dolores said. “Careless. You were probably so busy playing with your toys that you didn’t even notice how he was straying, and now see the mess you have made.”

His father looked dismayed.

“Didn’t expect them to devour you along with me, did you?” Kevin muttered to him.

“Kevin is not stupid, Sister,” Agnes said. “He knows this is beyond the pale. Don’t you, Kevin? Is this your idea of a perverse joke on all of us? Revenge for all the slights and criticisms? If so, it will not do. You must break this